Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Myth of Society and the Common Good

If you were to look up the definition of society in the dictionary it would be listed as a noun. But if society is a person, place, or thing than what does it look like? How big is it? How can it be described? Truly, society is nothing more than a theoretical mental construct. Actual society is made up of nothing more than a number of individuals, who operate in their own self-interest, and have their own values. But belief in society as a noun is what allows people to claim society has it’s own set of hopes, fears, wants, needs, emotions, and values. All the things that make actual individuals different and individual.

We can claim that “society” wants certain laws passed, and so passing those laws benefits the common good. Individuals, of course, have no rights versus this imaginary common good, and yet it is individuals themselves who suggest these laws, not society. Society is the concept that allows a small group of people to tell a large group of people what they can and cannot do.

The belief in society and the common good is what drives men, who would otherwise be bakers and butchers, to goose-step with rifles in their hands. It is the myth that allows the rights of the minority to be stripped in favor of the majority. It is, above all, the complete absence of rational thought, and the surrender to romanticism that allows a few leaders to bend the will of many people.

After all, there really is no answer to the common good, or worst of all “The Children”. A politician can sell anything if it’s under the guise of being for The Children. Every rational argument can be repressed and refuted by just the emotional call to an imaginary group of children who supposedly all share the same hopes, fears, wants, needs, emotions, and values. We all know that private individuals are better at providing hot dogs and shoes than the government, so what’s the rationale argument for Public Education? There is none, only an appeal to the romantic ideas of society and the common good.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should have included the lobby people also.

CyberKitten said...

Oh... I don't think that Society is a myth... I just need to look out of my window and there it is. Society is certainly a human construct - but then most of what we live with are constructs... Government, Laws, Rights, Religions... all are constructs. That doesn't make them myths.

I certainly don't think that people are merely "who operate in their own self-interest". It's not as simple as that. People are by nature (I think) tribal. We have family groups, clans and so on. We are much more than selfish individuals.

As to Public or State education - I actually think that its a good idea (and not just for the 'Common Good'). Without it we would have an explosion in elitism and an even greater gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots'

Anonymous said...

Wonderfully written. I'm going to add you to my blogroll as soon as I get back from the draft party tomorrow. I like your writing.

That, my friend, is why we have the Bill of Rights - to protect the Individual from the tyranny of the majority, or, society. I'm all for Individual Freedoms. And I hate the "it's for the children" crap. They'll eventually be using that stupid line for the formation of a dictatorship.

Scott said...

CK: Sure we live in a society of people, that's not the point I was trying to make. The myth is that there is another entity known as society that has it's own collective set of attributes. It's own needs and rights.

ZS: That, my friend, is why we have the Bill of Rights - to protect the Individual from the tyranny of the majority, or, society.

Exactly, thanks for the add.

Laura said...

Quite the realist aren't we?

I struggle with this myself. On the one hand, I'd like to believe that there's something inherently positive in people. But realistically, I think that what is a myth is our humanity. Humanity is created by shared senses of 'civility'. Once the social order breaks down, people turn into the animals we really are. At heart, people are just fuckers.

Also part of the reason why I believe in evolution. We're really just apes in fancy suits, and that might be insulting to the apes. Apes never hooked up each other's nuts to a car battery...

Anyway, I ramble...